…or how technology has changed how I run.”
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I realized about a week ago that I’ve been trailrunning for the easy majority of my life – I took up cross-country in high school and have been on the trails ever since. The amount of my efforts has waxed and waned depending on the year, but still, miles have been met. Most of the time I have run for the sake of running, and never been too interested in races, though I’ve run a few.
In 2010, I received an Adidas MiCoach and that was the first big introduction of technology to my running – I could do all sorts of neat things with it, but it was specifically for my workouts (see the blog posts here).
This past Fall, I had the chance, thanks to Verizon, to try out a FitBit One and this has definitely changed how I approach exercise and daily activity in general. By working with the FitBit, I could track my entire daily activity – it was like a fancy, internet/wireless/connected pedometer. Having this ability to connect my exercise (which could be done through Verizon’s network) to the Internet – and track my stats, see my friends’ stats, too – and have a friendly competition of sorts with them – it was pretty dang cool. This daily logging of activity brought a new sort of awareness to me, regarding wellness. I was definitely reminded that wellness – quality of living – these things require daily attention and effort. Being healthy is, to the extent possible, a choice – and a daily choice at that. Working with the FitBit made that choice easier – it made it fun – and trying to get my 10,000 steps, or at least close to it, became a challenge, not a drudgery.
The ability to track my sleep-cycles (through how much I moved), that too, was pretty neat. I’ve always heard that Americans don’t get enough sleep, and that more sleep is pretty crucial to good health. Well, now I saw, in numbers and graphs, what my sleep was like…and that I >did< need more.
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In late July, I ran a “5K with Dean Karnazes“, and in early August I received the FitBit. After that 5k, and a week with the FitBit, I decided I was going to do a race – the North Face Endurance Challenge Trail Half-Marathon. Seeing my numbers each day, as my training runs got longer, it was encouraging and made the training fun!
That race-day came and went…and it’s a story all its own. For today, I just want to make the suggestion that if you >are< serious about being healthy – about eating better, exercising regularly, valuing what health your body possesses – then working with a FitBit could sure be a neat way to help keep you motivated. I know it’s worked real well for me!
Since that initial experience with the FitBit, I’ve run my second trail half-marathon (here was my first, from last summer 1, 2), organized and ran the MKE Cosplay 5k, and am now running daily, as part of the Runners’ World Run-Streak (an attempt to run at least one mile every day between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve; look at my latest Instagram photos to see my efforts). I’m doing my best to be a “FitPhotog” and the FitBit is helping me a LOT!
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Here’s some past blog posts, profiling in words and photos, RUNNERS
If you were wondering “what DO healthy people know?” – here’s the answer.
All photos are from my RiverwestPlus/Endurance Challenge Run in Sept 2014.